Token love

Well, so the house is final.

First thing you have to do is pay the token amount. This is an exercise purely to get the flat owner leasing out his flat to you, to shut up and stop dropping hints about “other buyers” queuing up to get the house you have already finalised. After several rounds of discussion. I have known some people to go to extreme lengths merely to snooter the prospective buyer – in the hope that the more desperate the buyer, the more the eventual price. There was once a home owner who made a deal with another party after accepting the token amount.

So first things first. The moment the token amount is given, insist on a receipt mentioning all the relevant details. Tell the home owner/ agent clearly that you will require subsequent receipts for monthly rents paid, the deposit sum and any other compensation from your end. After they have meekly agreed, do a dance to rub their faces in it.

I trekked to the agents’ today to give the token amount for the new house. There was a form to sign and I had to put down my father’s home address and the husband’s home address (“for police procedures, heh heh heh” said the agent) and I traipsed out with the knowledge that the deal is finally through. Of course, the husband put the spanner in the works by asking me a) Why I had paid the token amount (when it had been discussed yesterday that we were going to) and b) What is the guarantee that the money will not be misused?

After issuing dire threats and ordering him off my phone, I fumed all the way home and cooled down only much later. But let me tell you this: gauge your agent, if there is one. After you decide you trust him, that you like his face and the fragrance of his deodorant, try and determine how well his business his doing. Also keep an ear open for whether he listens to you. For instance, one of the agents we hired was such a prat, he kept showing us fully furnished homes after we specifically told him we wanted empty houses, and then insisted that we take up a shady-looking accommodation that nobody seemed to want.

Second, your agent is not likely to run off with your money unless he is a complete berk and if you have every transaction in writing and signed. Do not be taken in with promises of “Pay now, we’ll issue all the receipts together.” Insist on the receipt at the time of handing over your money. Keep all your receipts carefully and check for any spelling errors of your name; this might complicate matters somewhat if your HR gives you house rent allowance and finds your name spelled wrongly.

Third, assess how much cash you have in paper form at home, and how much you have in the bank. The general rule of thumb is that you make an agreement for at least 11 months, so multiply the monthly rent you agreed on by 11. Add the deposit money (refundable) to this amount. To this, add such sums as stamp duty and registration charges, brokerage for the agent (generally equivalent to two rents, but some charge just one rent if they know the party), and items of immediate concern that you might have to pay for, such as fixing some furniture or getting some minor repairs done if the owner does not do them. Try and insist on the owner carrying out any repairs – after all, whatever they do to make the house as habitable as possible is an investment in their own home and is not to be construed as a special favour on you, the licensee.

However, before you make noughts and crosses on the walls to mark the spot where your kitchen cabinet goes or where the bedroom mirror affixes itself, ask your owner if it is possible to punch holes in the walls if you promise to restore the house before you leave. Some owners are notoriously touchy about people even touching their walls, so any hole-punching is out of the question. Ask me; I spent all my eleven months in the present house tiptoeing about not touching anything.

Once you’ve set aside your money, try and put a bulk of the amount in a bank account that is not as frequently used as maybe the account that has an ATM card. This way, you know you are not defaulting on your monthly rent payments and you don’t have to constantly juggle between the house money and cash for daily living. Having learnt the hard way, I will now use a hitherto neglected account for the rent money and keep my HDFC one for daily expenses.

Tomorrow, I am following up on the piped gas connection with the agent. I expect to get the receipt after I have made a trip to the bank to track an extra payment I made to my current homeowner (yeah, that happens too). Let’s talk about selecting the right location for your house tomorrow, which I now realise should have been topic number one. Do write in if you have a tip to share or a point to make.